Recently, vacuum sputtering coating technology using different types of vacuum sputtering apparatuses has been widely adopted in the industry, e.g., for forming an electro-magnetic interference (EMI) shielding film on a portable electronic device or for forming an optical film on an optical lens. Among the different types of vacuum sputtering apparatuses, an in-line multi-chamber sputtering apparatus is most widely used due to its various advantages, such as high yield, fast speed, good coating quality, lower manufacturing costs, etc. In general, a conventional in-line multi-chamber sputtering apparatus includes at least three chambers: a feeding chamber, a deposition chamber and a discharge chamber. During the sputtering process, a substrate (on which the film is to be deposited) is firstly disposed on a substrate carrier. The substrate carrier along with the substrate is disposed on a transport unit which is able to transport the substrate carrier along with the substrate into each of the chambers or among the chambers. The substrate is deposited with a film in the deposition chamber and is then discharged from the discharge chamber to obtain a deposited substrate (as a product).
FIG. 1 discloses a conventional film deposition system 1 that includes a substrate carrier 10, a multi-chamber film deposition station 14, a transport device 13 disposed under the multi-chamber film deposition station 14, a first elevating device 11 and a second elevating device 12. The multi-chamber film deposition station 14 includes an input end 141 and an output end 142 opposite to the input end 141. The first elevating device 11 is disposed adjacent to the input end 141 of the multi-chamber film deposition station 14. The second elevating device 12 is disposed adjacent to the output end 142 of the multi-chamber film deposition station 14. The first elevating device 11, the multi-chamber film deposition station 14, the second elevating device 12 and the transport device 13 cooperatively constitute a closed loop system.
The substrate carrier 10 firstly carries a substrate (on which the film is to be deposited) into the multi-chamber film deposition station 14 through the input end 141. Then, the substrate is deposited with a film in the multi-chamber film deposition chamber and is then discharged from the output end 142 to obtain a deposited substrate. The substrate carrier 10 along with the deposited substrate is then moved to a position above the second elevating device 12. On the second elevating device 12, the deposited substrate is removed from the substrate carrier 10 and lowered to the transport device 13 using a pressure cylinder. The substrate carrier 10 is then moved by the transport device 13 to the first elevating device 11, and is moved upwardly to the input end 141 of the multi-chamber film deposition station 14 using a pressure cylinder to carry a new substrate.
However, during the sputtering process, collisions between energetic ions and a target inside the multi-chamber film deposition station 14 generates a large amount of heat, causing the temperature inside the multi-chamber film deposition station 14 to be relatively high. The heat within the closed loop system may also raise the temperature of the substrate carrier 10 and the substrate transported through the multi-chamber film deposition station 14, thereby adversely affecting the quality of the deposited film.